Carnivàle (2003–2005): Season 2, Episode 3 - Ingram, TX - full transcript

When Carnivale sets up show in Ingram, Texas, Ben sets out to find some people who knew Scudder and stumbles into a bizarre moonshiners' camp, which proves both painful and revealing. Meanwhile, Stroud continues his quest to find Scudder by investigating the mining accident in the ghost town of Babylon. At Carnivale, Sofie still refuses to read Ben's future through the tarot cards, but the cards soon reveal something without Sofie's assistance. Ruthie's luck with her snake charming skills seem to be turning against her. Stumpy pitches Rita Sue and Libby to an underage audience, and he later gets a visit from a menacing bookie looking to collect. In Mintern, Tommy Dolan continues his investigation into the arson incident. Brother Justin takes the catatonic Reverend Balthus under his wing, as well as takes advantage of his young and naive new housekeeper, Celeste.

Carnivale -- Season Two, Episode 3 -- Ingram, TX

Ben? Ben, wake up.

- What happened?
- I smell smoke.

No fire. No smoke. Nothing.

- Are you sure?
- Yeah, I'm sure.

There's nothing.

Maybe it was a dream.

Yeah, maybe.

Probably.

Gabe?

"You're gonna have to turn
some of these people away."



We already went over this, Mr. Dolan.

I went over it with you,
now with your brother.

- Justin?
- Not a single soul will be turned away.

For Pete's sake, Justin,
you know the only reason

a lot of them are here
is for a hot meal.

Then they will be fed.

It's not just the food.

A lot of these people
might be criminals.

There's a lot of money
pouring in.

"Maybe they're looking
for an angle--"

Damn it!

They're not all here
to be saved, brother Justin.

They've come because
they were called, Mr. Dolan.

I need them all.



"Everything seems worse
when I'm trying to sleep."

I smelled smoke. It wasn't a dream.

It wasn't.

Sometimes I wonder
if all this ain't the dream.

If it is, I want to wake up.

You should do that more.

I was wondering...

If you wanna do one
of those readings with the cards.

It doesn't work without mama.

We could give it a shot.

I don't do that anymore.

Do me a favor,

get the cards. Burn them.

Take them out of my place
and burn them.

I don't ever want to see 'em again.

I take it you'll be needing a truck.

Yeah.

Been in Ingram a week.

A shit burg like this...
It ain't worth a day.

What're you sayin'?

If we stick around much longer,

they're gonna start grousing.

- You tell him I'm doing the best I can.
- He knows that.

Then why you crawling up my hoop
about it?

I've been all over this place.
I ain't found nothing.

It's not like Kerrigan
gave me a road map.

All right, I'm just asking.

There's some ranch roads in the hills.

I'm gonna run them out, see what's what.

I'll tell him.

Kid...

Watch your back.

Is that coming from you or him?

It's both of us.

Turn off that damned Squawk-O-Dyne.

"Drink Moxie, the only soft drink

"with the genuine Moxie taste."

Moxie, the only soft drink
you'll ever crave.

And now,
ladies and gentleman,

Lend a kind ear, as we bring you

Brother Justin's
Saturday morning "Church of the Air"!

Good morning,
brothers and sisters.

I was just making some notes
a few moments ago.

"And you'll never believe
what I was thinking about.

"I was thinking about... Salt."

In many ways, salt might appear to be
a curse from above.

The salt from the sweat of
our back-breacking labors.

"The salt from the tears
of a child gone hungry.

"The salt rubbed unmercifully
into the lash marks left by the whip."

The oceans themselves,
great bodies of water,

that might irrigate this withered land,
but cannot. And why?

Because they are poisoned with salt.

"And yet... We know

"that it is not a curse;

"It is a blessing.

"A mere pinch kills the writhing slug

"that ravishes our garden,

"the leech that sucks our lifeblood.

"And let us not forget,
brothers and sisters,

"the salt upon our tables,"

pure and white,

that increases our enjoyment

of God's simple bounty.

"You mind?"

- What happened?
- They've been skittish.

One of them must've bit the others...

Or they got sick.

Who knows why some things die?

Why you been ducking me, Ben?

I don't know what you're talking about.

Yeah? Then why won't you
even look at me?

If I did something to you,
or said something,

you stand up like a man,
Ben Hawkins, and you tell me.

Don't you hide from me like you hide
from everything else.

I ain't hiding from you.

Well, you're doing
a pretty good impersonation.

Okay, I don't want to be around you.

Satisfied?

You're scared of something.

The only thing scares me
is folks using other folks to use me.

You think I want to use you? For what?

Forget it, God damn it.
It ain't even about you!

Just forget everything.

You said it--
Some things die;

Some things don't.

I can't keep up this pace, Felix.

Oh hell, this ain't nothing.

You got us putting out
from noon till sunday.

Well, this one here's a special fellow.

Truth be told, he's an alderman,
could be mayor of Ingram some day.

I thought it would make...

Make pretty good sense
for the future, is what I thought.

You're full of shit, as usual.

Okay, then. I'll send him on his way.

No matter. You say the word.

I'm all...

Messed up down there.

Just get out of here. Get!

Hey, Sofie!

Did you do like I asked?

Yeah, I burned them. Except this one.

What's it mean?

Never seen it before.

It was in there with the others.

Well, I've seen every one
a thousand times.

It's not one of mine.

It was in there with the others!

Then burn it!

Welcome home, Norman.

Hey, Jones.

Libby.

- Here, I got it.
- No, don't.

No, no. It's all right.

Put her there.

There you go.

"Hey, Jonesy."

How you doing there, buttercup?

- How come you ain't inside?
- Commerce.

"Since when'd your mama
ply her trade before the crack of noon?"

Ask her squealing johnnie.

I could use an extra pair
of hands on colossus.

Hell, you got four guys on there now.

Three guys.

"She seems to be holding her own.

"It ain't her. It's the rest of them."

They don't like it.

- Since when does that cut ice?
- Plus she don't know jack.

So? Osgood don't know
how to find his pecker

if the light isn't on. He manages.

Look, if you're angling
to get her ass canned,

You're hunting with the wrong dog.
I like her.

Hell, Samson! It's your show--

And it's your crew! You wanna can her,
don't even talk to me.

You handle it!

Watch it up there!

Sorry.

Little late in the day for breakfast.

Honey pie,
I could eat breakfast three times a day.

Give a holler if there's anything else.

One thing--

The night of the fire at the mission,

you saw the car.

Damned vulture.

You want a story, talk to the cops.

It's over.
Why don't you give it a rest?

You know, a young lady
came to me the other day,

No older than you, I'm sure.

"She was a good christian
who had been in a bad way."

An unwed mother, had to give her baby up
a few years back.

She'd gotten her life back on track

and told me I could interview her

If I could just find out
if her baby

aas among those who perished
in the Mintern fire.

I had to tell her he was.

Me, not the cops.

Now, what I couldn't tell her

was that the flesh of those children

roasted so black,

it fell raight away
from their little bones

when they tried to move them.

"Let it rest" ?

"How do you suppose she rests?"

How do you suppose
those kids are resting?

He was slumped down.

Slumped down, or not very tall?

I couldn't see him.

You're sure it was a him?

"Could it have been a woman?"

Yeah. Yeah, it might have been.

Just one more thing--

Toast.

I asked for wheat toast.

Dry.

Yeah.

Howdy, friend.

You know somebody
around these parts called the Crone?

"Take this road
for a couple of miles,"

and right up yonder,
the road splits.

"You bear right,"

Then you will be on
Old Cherry Blossom road.

You go till you see a house.

How do I know the house?

Ain't but one.

Hey, hey,
hold up a mite, friend.

Here. Come on out.
I need to show you something.

- What?
- Well, come on out. I won't hurt you.

Go on. Show him.

What the hell you do that for?

She's abnormal. A retard.

"But she don't complain."

Won't tell nobody.
Back of your truck for $2.

She's tight.

I'm sorry.

Don't do that no more.

No, I won't.

Ever again.

/* Just me and my shadow */

/* All alone and feelin' blue... */

Henry Scudder. Look at you.

/* And when it's 12:00 */

/* We climb the stairs. */

/* We never knock */

/* 'Cause nobody's there. */

/* And when it's 12:00 */

/* And we climb the stairs. */

/* We never knock */

/* For there's nobody-- */
Whoop!

There.

You know, I can remember...

Sitting at your knee at the pergola

in the cool spring evenings

while you read your Bible.

Open.

Good.

I remember trying to lift it.

It seemed too heavy
for one person to hold.

You know the first word
I could read in english--

Open.

--was from your Bible.

It was "Garden." Remember?

"Oh, it's going to listen, Norman.

"The radio tower alone will be over
200 feet tall."

Did I tell you what Tommy Dolan said?

He said,

In a single coast-to-caost broadcast...

I will speak
to more souls

than our Lord did
in his entire lifetime.

It's going to be breathtaking.

That's right, gentlemen,
step right up in close

to witness the plush,
rich texture of womanhood seldom seen.

Plenty of room, boys. Step on in.

You ain't gonna like this, mama.

C'mon boys. Come on in tight

and get a gander of something
you're not likely to see

until your wedding night,
and maybe not even then.

Come on out here, little flowers,

and demonstrate the meaning
of the word desire!

This is not your mother.

This is not your sister.

This is not your Aunt Claudine.

"Fret not, gentlemen,"

where your imagination will take you.

It takes you to a land

where only pleasure resides.

- You been swigging wood alcohol again?
- What?

You're peddling flesh to a
goddamn sunday school outing.

Don't you ever demean what I do.

I do not peddle flesh. I sell dreams.

This is what comes from doin
a show before dusk.

If they don't run us out
they're gonna lock us up.

"Nono, darling.
No, no, no."

The little reckly-faced kid out there,
he's the sheriff's son.

See, his old man slipped me a fin,
told me to walk them in.

And you know me.
I never argue with law or local custom.

We doing kiddie shows now?

It's his birthday.

Oh.

You better go out there. Get on.
Your daughter's dancing lonely.

Hey there, bud!

Hey. Why don't you
get on in there

free of charge?

Oh God, it's gonna be
a hell of a blow-off.

I ain't here for no titty show.

Oh hell no. I know that.

Well.

I had better--
I'd better get back on in there

or the warden will skin me alive.

You know what I mean?

Later. After the show.

Hey!

Anybody?

I'd like to send
a telegram, please.

To Justin Crowe,

Mintern, California,
from...

Michael.

"Leaving Texas. Stop.

Pushing on
to New Mexico. Stop.

Impressive scenery. Stop."

Oh-- Make that collect.

Yes, sir.

"Anyone?"

I ain't no trespasser.

"What's yours is yours."

I ain't the law!

I ain't no poacher!

Come on.

When you were a kid,

you thought the seams

were veins.

"You're something else, honey.

"Come on, give it a kiss!"

Somebody help!

- "Kill it.
- Yeah, kill it.

- "Kill it!
- You heard her, kill it."

Hey, that shitsack monkey
is trying to get my 'shine.

"Look at that fucking monkey."

All he does is piss and shit.

What're you doing?

Ain't it clear?

That's enough now.

Leave some for the worms.

I said that's goddamn-enough !

Go bury him.

Deep! Not like the last one.

That's right, Joanne.

You a pretty little lady,

that's what you are.

Yeah, that's what you are.

"Inside's shut down!

"I'm sorry it's taken so long,

"but we have been working triple-time

- "Just to make things right.
- That's sweet. Where is it?"

Where's the rest?

"Look, do you want a drink?"

- Next week?
- Next week.

Don't, uh...

Don't make me take measures.

- No. Hell no.
- No.

Bud, I would never make you do that.

- "No, not ever.
- No, of course."

- Next week, then?
- Yes, sir.

That's mighty white of you.

Well, hey there, lambchop!

You remember Bud Everhard,
my old partner in crime.

- I don't believe so.
- Bud and I tried to open

that cathouse on the reservation
outside Albuquerque

once upon a time.

It was...

I told you that one.
I told you that, I'm sure.

I told her that one fifty times.

Uh-huh.

I have another stop
to make,

but it was a pleasure
meeting you, Mrs. Dreifuss.

Next week.

Best egg in the world, Bud Everhard.

Ran into some hard luck recently
with this widow, he took up with--

How much are you into him for?

Now, you see, why do you do that?

I got a tough hide, but sometimes

it's like you aim
to hurt me sometimes.

What do you want?

"I may not return with thee
and nor go in with, neither will I

eat bread with thee nor drink water
with thee in this place."

Oh, dear.

Goodness!

Yes. Terribly clumsy of me.

Down there.

Celeste?

You look as if you're about to pray.

Your mother taught you
how to pray, didn't she?

Oh, my dear, dear Celeste.

I will show you things.

Wonderful, terrible things.

That's it?

$3.28, A hobo knife
and some goddamn buttons?

That don't help.

She's holding out.

Hey, come on.

Come on.

Come on!

Look at that. I said.
You see that!

It's silver.

- Oh, shit.
- What?

Oh shit.

Hey, Ern! Ern! Stop!

- What do you mean? Damn it!
- Stop!

Dig!

Come on, set him down.

Go on.

You okay?

Look at this.
Is this yours?

- Huh?
- Yeah, yeah.

She's been waiting for you.

Who's there?

Lodz.
Where have you been?

In lush green pastures

the shepherd lies down with his flock.

But he does not sleep,

forever vigilant against the beast.

"The sheep are nothing
without the shepherd,

"but prey to the beasts of the night.

"When the sheep gives its life
for the shepherd's table,

"there is no greater honor."

Subtitles: RaceMan
Minor corrections: Lama